§ SERJEANT HEMPHILL (Tyrone, N.)I beg to ask Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, as representing the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, whether his attention has been drawn to 1074 the refusal of the Board of National Education to pay the arrears of salary of the assistant teacher of the national school at Ardstraw, in the county of Tyrone, which accrued from the 1st August, 1898, to the 1st January, 1899, though the subsequently accruing salary has been paid; and whether, there being no charge against such teacher of inefficiency or misconduct, or any regulation prohibiting such payment, he can state upon what grounds the arrears in question have not been paid.
§ MR. ATKINSONI am informed by the Commissioners of National Education that the manager of the school in question claimed payment of salary to the assistant teacher from 1st August, 1898, on an average attendance of sixty pupils. Payment of salary on an average attendance of sixty pupils was sanctioned by the Treasury as from 1st October, 1898, only,, and cannot be extended to any period preceding that date.